Former Clinton Aide Badgers Sanders about Harming Party Unity

No matter how hard she tries Hillary Clinton cannot seem to be able to put Bernie Sanders away once and for all, and the liberal media is not happy about it. On his Sunday show This Week, Clinton Foundation donor and former aide to President Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos badgered Senator Sanders about his steep chances of winning and how he’s hurting the Democratic Party’s ability to win in November. “Can you lay out a credible path to stopping her,” the host asked of Sanders.

Stephanopoulos pleaded with Sanders to read the writing on the wall, and admit he has no chance to winning the nomination out from under Clinton:

But as you know, the Clinton campaign has pointed out they’ve gotten 3 million more votes than you have. And when you look at the delegate math, she needs only 90 more pledged delegates to get ahead of you to win. She has twice— Her lead over you is twice as large as President Obama's in 2008. And to win, you’d not only have to do very well you’d have to get close to 70 percent of the vote in every remaining state to win. That's really not possible.

In response, Sanders began to argue that has won many states up until now and said, “I think we're going to win many of the remaining contests.” “But many is not good enough,” Stephanopoulos snapped at Clinton’s rival.

Sanders countered saying he wants the Democratic Party to be more open to the people he says he represents. He went on to say that he wanted people to have a real choice in November and not have to pick the lesser of two evils. Stephanopoulos seemed to be in a state of shock when requesting clarification by what Sanders meant by that, “Is that how you would describe Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump? The lesser of two evils?”

“And 20 percent of your supporters now say they would vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton,” fretted Stephanopoulos, reading from a new ABC poll released Sunday. “If this nomination fight doesn’t turn out like you hope, are you confident you are going to be able to convince your supporters to choose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump,” he continued to worry.

Throughout the entire interview, Stephanopoulos never disclosed that he once worked for President Bill Clinton as an aide in his White House or the fact he donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

Partial transcript below:

ABCThis Week
May 22, 2016
9:04:32 AM Eastern

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Secretary Clinton's gotten pretty definitive right now. She says, “I'm going to be the democratic nominee. There's no way I won't be.” Can you lay out a credible path to stopping her?

…

STEPHANOPOULOS: But as you know, the Clinton campaign has pointed out they’ve gotten 3 million more votes than you have. And when you look at the delegate math, she needs only 90 more pledged delegates to get ahead of you to win. She has twice— Her lead over you is twice as large as President Obama's in 2008. And to win, you’d not only have to do very well you’d have to get close to 70 percent of the vote in every remaining state to win. That's really not possible.

BERNIE SANDERS: I wouldn't say -- I would say it's a very steep uphill climb. But you know, from day one, it has been an uphill climb for us. We started taking on the entire establishment. We’ve now won 20 states. And between you and me George, I think we're going to win many of the remaining contests. Now one of the points Clinton makes is factually incorrect.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But many is not good enough.

SANDERS: She's not three -- she's not 3 million votes ahead of us. They've conveniently forgotten the states that have caucuses where we won overwhelmingly. But I think the reason that we do well in the remaining states, -- and the case we make to the super delegates—is the Democratic Party has got to open up its doors in a way it hasn't. To working people, to young people, to low-income people who are sick and tired of establishment politics and establishment economics.

We need a campaign, an election coming up which does not have two candidates that are really very, very strongly disliked. I don't want to see the American people voting for the lesser of two evils. I want the American people to be voting for a vision of economic justice, of social justice, of environmental justice, of racial justice. That is the campaign we are running. That's why we're getting the support we are.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is that how you would describe Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump? The lesser of two evils?

SANDERS: Well, if you look – No, I wouldn't describe it. But, that's what the American people are saying. If you look at the favorability ratings of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, both of them have very, very high unfavorables. You're not going disagree with me on that, are you?

STEPHANOPOULOS: No question about that. Absolutely. Let me just go on though, because our poll also does show— it does show that for sure, our brand new poll. It also shows— It has some evidence that your contest is creating some challenges that could hurt the Democrats in November. Secretary Clinton is only running even with Donald Trump among 18 to 29-year-olds. That’s a big drop for her. And 20 percent of your supporters now say they would vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. That's a big jump since March. If this nomination fight doesn’t turn out like you hope, are you confident you are going to be able to convince your supporters to choose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump?

…

STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of Democrats anxious about those protests at the Nevada state convention last week. And a number of your supporters are now filing for permits to protest in Philadelphia as well. Are you encouraging that? And are you confident that you can keep the situation in Philadelphia under control?

The mission of the Media Research Center is to create a media culture in America where truth and liberty flourish. The MRC is a research and education organization operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and contributions to the MRC are tax-deductible.